Chapter 14

Conor's eyes slowly came to focus. He could sense that he was upside down in his car. He could smell gasoline too. Conor slowly moved to his head which was hurting like crazy. He touched the hurt area and withdrew his hand as a jolt of pain went through his head. His hand was bloody now.

Conor tried to come out but to no avail. He thought hard about what to do in this situation. All of the sudden, he remembered that his car was a government-provided car and all of them had one feature; the emergency SOS.

Conor adjusted his position a little bit before pressing on the brake and accelerator pedal and the horn all at once. The horn gave out a faint noise as if it was dying. After holding for almost ten seconds, a low beep sounded and the steering wheel gave a quick vibration, indicating that the SOS message has been delivered.

Conor sighed in relief. After a moment, he tried to unbuckle his seat belt again but also to no avail. Not knowing what else to do, he resorted to his last choice; biting his way through the belt and tear it. After some serious biting and jolting, Conor managed to damage the belt halfway through, after which he tore it apart easily.

Slowly and carefully, he got out of the car and lay down beside the road. Conor now wondered who had crashed into his car. As he was hit twice, it was clear to him that it was intentional. Was someone trying to harm or kill him?

He couldn't think much as his head hurt when he did. After several moments, an ambulance arrived and Conor was taken to the hospital; where he passed out again. The last thing he remembered seeing was the light in the operation theatre.

When he came back to consciousness, Conor saw Mr. Atlas sitting on a chair beside him. Mr. Atlas noticed that Conor was awake and he rushed forward to the bed.

'Oh, thank god you are awake. We've been worried.' Mr. Atlas said. Conor ad no idea what was going on. 'How are you feeling?' Mr. Atlas continued.

'Uh, a little confused-' Conor said.

'It's okay. You'll be fine. The doctor gave you several stitches in the head and he said that you are stable now, you can be discharged in several days.' Mr. Atlas explained.

'Sir, may I ask something? Who had hit me?' Conor asked.

'Alas, we still don't know. It's been three days since we started the investigation but no traces of the car had been found. We checked the hidden cams in your car but still, no help.' Mr. Atlas said.

'But who would hit me- and why…' Conor wondered.

'Ah, we have thought about that. It was likely sabotage. Someone wants to remove you from the game.' Mr. Atlas said.

'Sabotage? For what???' Conor questioned. He was bewildered.

'For your plans. The relocation thing.' Mr. Atlas said. 'You see, I never told you this. An anonymous corporation told us if we do the mass killing, they will provide funds for innovation and some jobs.' he continued.

'You want to say that those three bastards are trying to kill me?' Conor asked.

'If by the three bastards you mean Brad, Fry and Fox, then yes, they are trying to get you out of their way. We have put them in custody and will soon be questioned.' Mr. Atlas explained.

'Okay, cool. Can I rest now? My head hurts.' Conor said.

'Oh sure, sure. Sorry. Yes, you can rest. I- I'll be outside. Press the buzzer if you need anything.' Mr. Atlas said and left the ward. Conor turned to his side slowly and closed his eyes but not his racing mind.